This morning we were docked at Heraklion on the island of Crete. In Titus 1:5 we learn that at one point Paul left Titus on this island. In Acts 27 the ship Paul was on when in route to Rome docked at Fair Havens on Crete, which is on the opposite side of the island from Heraklion. Today Fair Havens is known as Kali Limenes, if you are looking at a modern map. Olen and I decided to go out on our own this morning, and had quite an adventure. Our first stop was at an internet café where I posted the two previous entrees to this blog.
As it happened, there was a car rental store right across from the internet café, and Olen got busy talking to the proprietor while I was posting items on the blog. When we finished at the internet café, he told me that he thought we could rent a car for the few hours we would be in port, and would be able to drive out in the countryside for some lovely morning views. That sounded good, didn’t it?
The proprietor spoke English (somewhat), but he was Greek to the core! Let me give you some examples:
“You can rent car. All you need is drivers’ license and passport.”
“They took up our passports when we boarded the ship. We don’t have our passports.”
“No passports, no problem. It’s ok. Sign here.”
“We have to be back on the ship at 11:00.”
“It’s ok. No problem. Come by here. Pick me up. I drive you to ship. No problem.”
Then the real adventure began. He showed us how to drive the car. (It was a yellow Fiat Panda, not a bully of a car, by any means!) The first mechanical item he showed us was the horn, which we have noted is a very important item if you plan to make any vehicular progress on Crete. It had been a while since Olen had driven a stick shift, and I have never done it, but Olen remembered fairly quickly, and we were off. We wanted to see as much of the Cretan countryside as we could…and still be back on the ship at 11:00. (Cruise ships wait on no one!)
First of all, let me point out that it would have been helpful if we had known a little Greek so we could read the road signs. Quite often we were curious about what the signs said or meant. Like I said, it was an adventure. Our first adventure was a wrong turn that involved us in a maze of extremely narrow one-way streets. When we finally ended up exactly where we started, we again set out, this time heading out of town. The next thing we learned was that it is not wise to try to bluff local taxi drivers, so we gave them the right-of-way. We also learned that double-parking is the norm, so if you are headed down a street you might suddenly be blocked by the car ahead of you just coming to a dead stop in the road while the driver gets out and runs into a shop.
Having said all that, once we got out in the rural area, the scenery was spectacular. We drove about 12-15miles (It is all in kilometers here, so who knows for sure?) to the picturesque town of Archanes. This is in a mountainous area where there are grapes and olives grown on alternating parcels of land, making the entire hillside look like a quilt of various shades of green. It was absolutely stunning.
We took another wrong turn on the way back and ended up at the car rental shop with only twenty minutes to get back to the ship.
“No problem. I drive you.”
“Our ship is out on that dock.”
“I know short cut. No problem.”
“This is not right. Our ship is on the other side.”
“Oh, I see. I get you there. No problem.”
So, we arrived at the ship at approximately 10:59. We had almost a whole minute to spare. Like he said, “no problem”.
We sailed away from Crete, ate lunch, and headed for Santorini, which is a distance of about 70 miles from Crete. Santorini has no Biblical significance, but it very beautiful and interesting. In 1450 B.C. an enormous volcano erupted there, giving Santorini its crescent shape. (For real-time views of Santorini by web cam, go to http://www.santorini.net/caldera.html)
When we landed on the island there were three choices for getting to the town at the top of the mountain. We could walk…no way. We could ride the cable car, or we could ride a donkey. We elected to “donkey up” and “cable car down”, just for the experiences. Believe me, the donkey experience was interesting. I tried to take photos, but you can imagine how they turned out as I tried to take snapshots from a moving donkey with a mind of his own! The video I took was probably worse, but I have not viewed it yet. Lucy took the donkey along with us. Quite an experience for old friends!
Lucy
Spectacular is a word that does not do justice to Santorini. We stayed as long as possible on the island, and could have walked around taking gorgeous photos for a week or more. I am sending a few photos, but it was difficult to stop taking photos of such a beautiful place. If we ever have the opportunity again, this is one spot on the “must-return” list.
Steve and Vicki
This is our last night on the ship. We dock near Athens (Greece, for you Alabama people!) early tomorrow morning and get on another tour bus for the remainder of the trip.
We finally got word today that the baseball team at ABS won the state championship. Congratulations to the boys, and to their coach. Coach has waited many years for this to happen, and we are so glad he finally achieved this with his team. Congratulations from all of us on a ship somewhere in the Aegean Sea. We are thankful for a coach that leads a team to victory while setting such a great example of a Christian gentleman at the same time. Again, congratulations!
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